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Inside Games for Second and Third Grade

When the weather is inclement outdoors, keep your second- and third-graders busy indoors with entertaining games. Games can help your students build friendships and social skills. With a few supplies, your imagination and some ideas, you have everything you need to create inside games for your students. Encourage the children to do their best by awarding small prizes, such as pencils or candy, to game winners.

Relay Games
- Divide the children into two teams and move all the desks out of the way. Mark a starting line and a walk-to line 15 feet apart. Have the team lines up at the starting line and give the first player in each team line a small pink eraser. When you say, "Race," each child must place the eraser on her head and walk as fast as she can to the walk-to line. She must come back and tag the next player in line, who must do the same thing. If a player runs or drops the eraser, he must start over. The first team to finish wins the race. For another variation, use a large dry-erase eraser for the children to balance on their heads.
Corner Games
- Label the four corners of the classroom, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Select one player to be "it" and have him sit in the middle of the room with his head down. He must count to 10 and yell out one of the numbers. If he calls out, "2," each child standing in corner 2 is out of the game. Keep playing until only one player remains, who is the winner of the game and is the next "it." For another variation, make each corner a different color.
Marble Games
- Take a lid to a cardboard box (like a shoebox lid) and cut five circles varying from small to large. The smallest hole should barely fit a marble and the largest will be at least three times the size of a marble. Place a large cardboard box on the ground and have one child hold the lid straight out over the box. Put a marble on the lid and have her try to guide the marble to the smallest hole. Label the holes with point values, with the smallest having the most value and largest having the least value. Each child will try to roll the marble through the holes to earn the most points. The child who earns the most points wins the game. To make the game harder, make the holes smaller.
Bandanna Games
- Divide the class into two teams and give each team a bandanna. Use a rope or piece of string the divide the classroom into two halves. Have one team leave the room while the other team hides the bandanna on the other team's half. That team leaves and the other team comes in to hide their bandanna. When you say, "Go," the teams must try to find the bandanna the other team hid on their team side. The first team to find their bandanna wins the game. For a variation, divide the class into four teams and have each team hide a bandanna in another team's section of the classroom.

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